"FREEZE MAY KILL 60,000," blared the headline of London’s Express newspaper on January 11. The following excerpt gives an idea of the grim picture in much of the UK: As Britain’s winter of discontent threatened a fresh wave of blizzards and freezing temperatures last night, [Prime Minister] Gordon Brown stood accused of failing to protect the nation…. Experts predict a massive spike in death rates — with up to 60,000 more people dying than average because of the wintry conditions. The British civilian death toll in the Second World War was 67,000.
A headline for the London Times for the same day provided similarly bleak tidings: "Panic buying in supermarkets as the weather tightens its grip on Britain."
The Times story went on to report:
Supermarkets in some areas are reported to have sold out of essentials including bread, milk and salt. Farmers were also said to be struggling to harvest vegetables in the freeze, which could lead to higher food prices.
Stephen Alambritis, chief spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Our members have had a run on vegetables and food. The replacements have been thin on the ground. There is concern that farmers have not been able to bring the harvest in for such items as potatoes, sprouts and cabbages, which reduces the amount available to stores — and pushes up prices."
The Express for January 12 came back with more bad news. Here’s the headline: "UP TO 12 INCHES OF SNOW IS ON THE WAY."
The Express story reports that a "total of 28 people are thought to have died as a result of the cold weather. Hospitals have been overwhelmed with people who have broken bones after slipping on ice. Others patients have suffered respiratory problems brought on by the freezing weather."
England isn’t alone in experiencing frigid temps. As the German news agency Deutsche Welle headline on December 9 stated: "Europe shivers under sub-zero temperatures."
"Europe has been struck by its worst bout of winter weather in decades, with much of the continent being blanketed by heavy snowfall," reported Deutsche Welle. "Countless flights have been cancelled and travel has been advised against."
"In Germany," the story continued, "authorities have advised that people buy enough food and medicines to last for up to four days as a blizzard bears down on large swathes of the country."
In December of 2008, The New American wrote about the similar winter cold spell that was ravaging Europe. The headline for our story was: "Heat or Cold: Which Is More Deadly?"
That article began with a question: "Which poses the greater health risk to humans: hot weather, or cold?" And it responded: "According to global-warming alarmists, the answer is simple: heat kills. However, statistical evidence shows that cold weather is twice as deadly as hot weather."
It went on to report that relatively few people actually freeze to death, but the death toll from flu, pneumonia, heart and respiratory failure, and other causes during cold spells is double the mortality from heat waves. It surveyed the extensive medical evidence showing that in terms of lives saved, a warmer climate "should be cause for rejoicing, not hand-wringing." Too bad such warming remains largely relegated to the tempers of activists.
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